More than just Supersonic Shocks

Hey Hipster Music Snobs! Get over your-

selves!

I like spending my Gs at Sonic Boom. It's that huge new/used CD/vinyl store on Bloor, just east of Bathurst. It always has elaborate window displays recreating new album covers with amazing prop work, apparently maintained by an artistic employee. All you hear when you walk in, besides your headphones, is the click click click of people shuffling through rows of used CDs. Organized by the day they were brought in, you can really score some great and cheap music, and downstairs they have lots of used records too!

I'm often torn. While I love new music and want to support independent artists, I also love saving money, so I wait until albums appear in the used section so I can spend a fraction of the price. But then the artist doesn't benefit financially from my support. But I suppose I can then tell people about them and increase their fan base. So in the end they should be sending me free music for all the work I do for them.

Anyways, I got some good stuff there last Thursday, all from the used bins:

The Bicycles - The Good the Bad and the Cuddly - $6.95

The Toronto band's 2006 album is happy, adorable, and up beat. Rumour has it they live in the Annex too. Most songs are under 2.5 minutes, and make you want to squish someone's cheeks while running through a sprinkler eating superkid ice cream.

Akron/Family - Meek Warrior - $4.95

I wasn't sure what to expect with this album. I really like their more recently released song River, which is tribal, lyrical, and catchy all at once. This album is older and it starts off a little intense and thumpy, the first track being 9 1/2 min of noise. But then the rest of the album calms down and you can actually listen to the unique instrumentation.

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People - $4.95

The quintessential darling Toronto Indie band; if you like BSS, you have to have this album. It's rich, well written, well played, and sometimes makes you sad. But in a way that feels like it's good for you.

Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy - $4.95

Who am I to review Led Zeppelin? The lyrics for D'yer Mak'er are printed in the album book in case you wanted to know how many times Plant says "oh" each line. It's 6. He says oh 6 times. It may sound like 5, but when you think he's stretching it out on the 5th time, he's actually saying it twice more.

The Beatles - Abbey Road - $4.95

They are selling them new at Soundscapes for $16.99. I paid $4.95!! Now I can gaze at the iconic cover whenever I want. And listen to the music, I guess. They're a good band, those Beatles. You should check them out. Tell your friends.

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Quiet on Set

I was right! They totally were filming Scott Pilgrim at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor.


And I guessed it'd be the scene where Scott is in a phone booth in front of Insomnia cafe. I headed down Bathurst at about 1pm today and there were film crew trucks and gear everywhere and signs saying "SP film shoot". When I got to Pizza Pizza, the police weren't letting people cross the street until they finished filming their shot and I could hear loud shouts of "ACTION!" every so often. 

I squinted through the sun across the street and saw Michael Cera (in the title role) in a fake phone booth in front of Insomnia. I took a couple photos and contemplated what my next move should be.

I figured I'd be in the way and look like a giant loser if I tried to loiter near the set, so I decided to take a seat at Lettieri, as planned, and stare from there. Armed with a book (to make myself look like I had something better to do), camera, iPod, and Americano (which, by the way, tasted like gross freeze dried Nescafe. I need to find a new cafe), I sat at a booth and stared out the window hoping to catch a better glimpse of Michael.

So before I continue rambling, who is this Scott Pilgrim?

I was introduced to this Canadian graphic novel when I visited my friend J in Calgary in the summer of '07. J is a big comic book nerd, and even dragged us along to various comic book stores while we were on a time-limited vacation so he could find the latest issue of whatever it was he was into at the time. I'd never read a graphic novel and the only comics I read were Archie and Calvin and Hobbes. He told me I would really dig this one because it's cute and witty, and he was right! The series is about Scott Pilgrim, a 23 year old boy who lives in Toronto and plays in a band called Sex Bob-Omb, has a 17 year old Chinese girlfriend named Knives Chau, shares a bed with a cool gay roommate, and falls in love with a roller blading Amazon.com courier named Ramona Flowers, who takes a shortcut through his dreams. However, in order to get with Ramona, he must defeat her 7 evil ex-boyfriends in epic battles. How could you not love a story like that? Plus, the artist, Bryan Lee O'Malley, includes detailed sketches of lots of spots all around Toronto including Casa Loma, Sonic Boom, Lee's Palace, and the Bathurst/Bloor intersection. 

So when I first came across the character Knives Chau, I said, "That's the perfect part for me! I can do whiny high school Asian kid! I want this part when it gets made into a movie! I must have it!" I really did say that. But dammit they cast the movie without doing a proper casting call that made sure girls like me knew about it. [edit: the girl in the photo is so not Knives, this is Knives]

There are 5 books, and I think they are planning to make 6. I have only actually read 2 of them because they are not available at my usual book stores. I know they're available at Pages on Queen Street, so every time I go there I try to pick one up (I guess I've only been there twice since '07)(I just received word that they are also available at Suspect Video on Markham St., so I'm gonna check that out). The problem with graphic novels is that there is so little text, it takes about 10 minutes to finish a book. Then you can read it again to look at the images more closely, but that's pretty much it. 20 min and you have to find yourself a new book.

I didn't stay long at Lettieri before getting antsy, so I got up and walked across the street, being careful not to step in the fake snow (made of actual ice and spun cotton), and tried to go to Sonic Boom. Sonic Boom prides itself on being open 365 days a year, but it was CLOSED! A film crew guy outside said they would be closed until Wednesday, so I deduced that they must be filming the interior for the scene when Scott breaks up with Knives. I'm quite the detective.

I stared longingly across the street for a moment more before deciding that it was futile, director Edgar Wright would never notice me, so I went on my way to buy groceries to make samosas (I'll tell you about those later!). On my way back, I walked through the main set and tried to spot some of the actors, but they were all gone. Just film crew people. Bo-oring!

I guess trying to be an actor by hoping directors of already cast movies will notice me when I casually walk by isn't the best of plans.

e